Fruitless Pursuits

This week Thoryn is calling the shots so that means lots of topics, and lots of uninformed takes from Jason. We discuss the Alec Baldwin incident, film labor strikes, Steve Gorman and the faultiness of memory. Then, new records from Brandi Carlisle, Jason Isbell and just in time for Halloween, the Mark Lanegan and Joe Cardamone collaboration: Dark Mark Vs. Skeleton Joe. Later, we discuss the ability of music to elicit memories, the irredeemability of Vince Neil, headbanger chicks, Shkreli's Wu-Tang record, DUNE and the trainwreck that is Black Widow. Also: Thoryn professes his love for Michael Bolton. That alone make this episode worth a listen.

This week: Jason preaches the virtues of a clean ass, we discuss what Italian fashion magazines and metallic hardcore have in common and take another dump on Vince Neil. This just in: Spiritbox is still terrible but someone in the marketing department at Rise Records REALLY wants them to be famous. Finally we have another installment of "Our Favorite Producers." This week's inductee is none other than Brendan O'Brien. We discuss his early career with the Black Crowes and the Red Hot Chili Peppers under the flag of Rick Rubin all the way through his current work with Mastodon, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen and of course in his role as the primary producer and de facto 6th member of Pearl Jam.

Fall is in the air and what says Autumn better than blackface Halloween costumes and hunting humans for sport. Then: we talk about the upcoming Baroness all-request tour and look into a story about a river near Glastonbury showing up with monumental traces of drugs after the event. Later: Cedric Bixler-Zavala of the Mars Volta/ATDI fame made claims that agents of Scientology killed his dogs and we discuss a cool upcoming project from Converge, Chelsea Wolfe and Steven Brodsky. I pity the fool who don't rate this podcast.

This Week: Thoryn tries to quit coffee, Jason has a mental breakdown and we both find out who MGK is (unrelated). Then: Why the Red Hot Chili Peppers were crucial teenage makeout jams and our favorite musicians in acting roles. Finally, we introduce the first installment of our "Florida Stories" series with a few tales about spooky dolls, surviving hurricanes and doing drugs inside a tent in your living room. Chop it up.

This week we talk about waning enthusiasm for the NFL, a Mastodon/Opeth tour and new music from Russian Circles. Also, we debut our new segment highlighting our favorite record producers with an exhaustive look at the career of Terry Date, producer for Deftones, Pantera, Soundgarden and many others. Later, we discuss why Thoryn hates scream vocals, sophomore slumps, great records with terrible cover art and how the parking lot scene was the ruin of the Grateful Dead. Turn on, tune in and drop dead.

This week the boys chat about lateral moves to escape life's riptides and talk new music by Mastodon and Quicksand. Then we talk record anniversaries, subsequent re-releases and Jason recounts the fuckery involved in the rerelease of Ozzy Osbourne classics Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. Related: Metallica's Black Album turned 30, released a giant collection of other people covering their tunes and Lars Ulrich finds himself on the path to winning Thoryn's forgiveness. Finally... Who asked for a Scott Weiland biopic? Certainly not us. Seriously...stop it with the biopics already.

Nude selfie scams, Thoryn gets triggered about Steve Albini being Steve Albini and disrespecting Pearl Jam on twitter and Brad Stewart of UNICO joins us to re-cap Psycho Las Vegas 2021. Highlights include Big Business, Deafheaven, EYEHATEGOD, Pig Destroyer and the almighty Danzig performing Lucifuge in it's entirety. Lowlights include black metal sucking. Plus - The cancellation of Bonnaroo has fest-heads and artists alike feeling disappointed and the Nirvana baby is still apparently chasing that dollar. Fuck around and find out...

Back from hiatus the boys are fresh and crank out a certified banger right out the gate. What do The Manson Family, Jim Morrison's Dad and Dennis Hopper have in common? Maybe nothing but anything is possible, especially in 1960's Los Angeles. We discuss the book "Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream," and strap on our bullshit detectors. Also: Jason wonders why no one told him how good the Punisher is, we discuss the debacle that was Woodstock '99 and the HBO documentary about the doomed event, we wonder why males under 25 seem brain damaged. Finally: We talk Massachusetts metallic hardcore legends Cave In's recent signing to Relapse Records for an upcoming 2022 album as well as the re-release of classics like "Until Your Heart Stops" and "Jupiter." Get busy living, or get busy dying.

The boys attempt to bounce back from the worst episode ever and quickly get sucked into the vortex of bad news and politicized nonsense, Jason wonders if he might still be on probation somewhere, Jakob Dylan explains the universe and we reminisce about the Columbia House 10 Cd's-for-a-penny scam and how minors got the last laugh. Also, we talk CCC's (COVID concert cancellations), why streaming shows don't quite scratch the itch, the perils of aging lead singers, Jason claims The Clash sucks but refuses to provide supporting evidence and much more. Drink it in!

I'm gonna level with you, this episode is trash. It's waaaay too long and goes nowhere. I wasn't even going to post but then I figured maybe someone could at least listen to the first half and fall asleep to it or listen to as background noise while you're doing drugs. The analytics don't care so do whatever floats your boat... Topics Include: Fireworks stories Gear Talk High ticket prices meshuggah/coverge/torche talking shit on other podcasts The Black Crowes More trashing Perry Farrell Courtney Love is an expert on Plagiarism REZNOR/ROSS Productions Weed in Pro Sports

Have you been dreaming of a new metal revival? Yeah, us neither. The boys set it off with a little bit of vax chat then it's all music, all the time. Copyright lawsuits and lack thereof, Jason's professed love for Steve Albini, John Stanier's snare sound on Helmet's "Meantime" record, new music from Quicksand and the unadulterated genius of Walter Schreifels in all it's incarnations. Did we mention Limp Bizkit? Yeah, I guess we have to talk about that too as well as newly announced tour mates, Evanescence:Code Red aka Spiritbox. We also discuss festival lineup overlaps, Metallica covers we don't need and our greatest disappointments from musicians we loved. This episode is George Michael approved, which means it's best consumed in a interstate rest area men's room. Dig in!

Jeebus...Have you seen the HellFest 2022 Line-up? To say it's a doozy might be the understatement of the century. Seriously, go look at it...it's every band ever so if they can pull it off, it may go down as the most legendary festival line up of all time. We also discuss more tracks from the DC Dark Knights Death Metal project, Sony music releasing artist from unfavorable royalty contracts and in a quick tangent, Jason wonders how much Olivia Munn has spent to erase her ethnicity. Also in our "Found Drugs" segment, British Royal Marines are arrested for smuggling coke in lego boxes that ended up a gift for what had to be the most off-the-hook kids birthday party ever and Thoryn gives his recommendations for new sci-fi reading. Go to Hell...Fest.

Seems like every album ever is getting a 20th anniversary remaster/re-release whether the original warrants it or not. Listen, not every record released in 2001 needs to be dragged back up to the surface, least of all an undisputed pile of shit like Korn's "Untouchables." We also profess our love for everyman producer Terry Date, discuss how Phil Anselmo seems to have survived cancellation, get nostalgic about the time we met Corrosion of Conformity and talk nepotism in the music industry, specifically as it relates to Wolfgang Van Halen and Jakob Dylan. Finally, Thoryn accuses Jason of having misogynist ears and Jason does a terrible job of defending against the allegations. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Back from a short hiatus and ready to roll...More trouble for Marilyn Manson and why nobody cares. In "caught masturbating on camera" news, Dave Ellefson is dismissed from Megadeth after a video surfaced of...well, I think you can figure it out. Speaking of things no one wants to see, Rob Zombie is curating a cruise with (Mastodon notwithstanding) enough terrible bands per ton that we would consider jumping overboard and trying our luck with the sharks. Also: Breaking News - Vince Neil is still a human garbage bag. Also we talk a little industry news about Tommy Boy Records, debate the merits of Miley Cyrus and Jason tells anecdotes about dragging his long-suffering wife to heavy metal concerts. Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

This week we talk about people screwing up your name, Thoryn makes a case for revisiting the more popular Soundgarden albums, we discuss a story in which Sinead O'Connor recounts a bizarre encounter with The Purple One, the Artist formerly known as Prince. Then things get weird as we speculate on whether or not Ricky Schroder was a victim of Hollywood pedo's, Jason revisits Manchester Orchestra's "Million Masks of God" with new adult contemporary ears and we wonder why so many festival lineups this summer appear to be copy and pasted. Lastly, the boys reconsider their moratorium on festivals after encountering the Psycho Vegas lineup...PLUS a new Now Spinning. Check it, check it out.

The title says it all...well, not really. We talk about much more in this episode than compulsive masturbators. For instance: killer festival line-ups including Chicago's perennial RiotFest, Birmingham's All-Star Hardcore show Furnace Fest and The Fest in Gainesville. We get excited about a new collaborative track from NIN and HEALTH, revisit seeing Dillinger Escape Plan at their pinnacle and talk about why comedian Shane Gillis is the man. Finally we discuss the new project from DC Comics entitled Dark Knights:Death Metal, a comic series that is accompanied by a promising soundtrack featuring new and original music from Mastodon, Chelsea Wolfe, Rise Against, Manchester Orchestra, Greg Puciato, HEALTH ft. Chino Moreno and many more. This one goes down easy, boys and girls!

The boys talk about methods to surviving children's birthday parties, being wary of being told something is "the next great whatever" (looking at you, Spiritbox.) Thoryn discovers Gojira 20+ years into their career (better late than never) and we discuss why Mastodon's Brent Hinds may be the most entertaining interview subject ever. Jason tells a story about his encounter with Tool's Maynard James Keenan in the New Orleans airport, we talk about the sad unraveling of Glenn Danzig's ultra-macho persona. Finally...despite the copious amount of rage clicks we got on YouTube, we still think Greta Van Fleet is a little kid band. That is all, dismissed.

No, seriously...what the hell is that, Perry Farrell? More like Scary Farrell, amiright? Anyway... Rhino Records has some cool reissues out, particularly some fresh re-releases of Dio-era Black Sabbath classics "Heaven and Hell" and "Mob Rules." We reminisce about the famed venue Cow Haus in Tallahassee, Florida and it's demise at the hands of electronic music. Also... Pete Davidson is slated to play Joey Ramone in an upcoming Netflix biopic that can't possibly be good and we discuss why biopics, particularly music-based ones so often fall flat. Finally, we discuss New RZA and wonder if music festivals are the last remaining safe haven for white people who want to dance. Buckle up, it's about to get bumpy.

Is live music finally back? This week we peruse the Bonnaroo 2021 line up, discuss how you know when you're too old for festivals, talk new music from Genghis Tron and Manchester Orchestra and sift through details of the Soundgarden VS. Vicky Cornell lawsuit. Drop in and turn up!

More Mars Volta! Tomahawk's newest noise, bullets filled with Lemmy's ashes, Geezer Butler's new book details railing "buckets of blow," vinyl is still king (at least in the UK) and former Intelligence Director discusses the latest in UFO disclosures. Saddle up, Sally.

This week we poke our heads out of the gopher hole to see if it's safe to go see live music yet, discuss the friendship between Tom Morello and Ted Nugent, nerd out about guitar gear, tell the new generation about the grab bag of alternative music known as 120 minutes and we also find some more cocaine, this time in your grandma's crochet kit. Here. We. Come.

This show is loaded like a yuppie at a Dead and Co. show. This week a mystery figured dropped a cache of unreleased Rolling Stones songs featuring David Bowie on the unsuspecting public and unlike most mythical bootlegs, it's actually good. The Mars Volta drops a limited and pricey box set that rights some wrongs of prior releases and it sells out immediately. Is it significantly better or just the self-indulgence that the Volta crew has become known for? Pop folk bores Mumford & Sons catch hell for aligning with right wing journalist and Antifa critic Andy Ngo. Aslo: Florida loves cocaine, a Seattle chemistry teacher mounts possibly the largest come-up in history by marrying Jeff Bezos' ex and Jason supports the proletariat but wonders where he can buy a case for his iPhone. This shit goes hard!

This week: The boys deep dive into the tales of substance abuse in Mark Lanegan's memoire, "Sing Backwards and Weep," question the logic of Dr. Carl Hart's promotion of casual heroin use, discuss the passing of Bunny Wailer, get addicted to the the beautifully depressing vortex of the new Chelsea Wolfe/Emma Ruth Rundle track and Thoryn tells a tale of the time a pre-fame Black Keys thought they were going to get jumped by locals after a show in Florida. Get your fix!

The boys talk Valentine's Day and foolproof methodologies for meeting women at the meat market formally known as Blockbuster Video. Kevin Hart gets caught up in another "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" situation and we have an adverse reaction to reaction videos on YouTube and their popularity. Also: We extol the virtues of Buddyhead, including their legendary Marilyn Manson beef. Then: Let's debate about shit that doesn't matter...namely the annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees and finally we discuss a forthcoming a/v package release from the inimitable Neil Young and debate whether it falls into the "archival document" or "cash grab" category. Get in where you fit in!

The boys are back and taking on all the big topics this week including: Posting Toilet Selfies Dave Grohl & Lemmy Kilmister US Black Metal & National Socialism Andrew Schulz V. Kevin Hart The Return of System of a Down Phoebe Bridgers Incident on SNL & The Marilyn Manson Abuse Allegations. Here We Are Now, Entertain Us.

Wall Street temporarily took a walloping before taking their ball and going home, Phil Specter's "Wall of Sounds" meets the Wall of Death, Converge is blamed for internet blackouts in the Philippines and we muse about oddly behaving asteroids passing through our solar system. We also tease Mark Lanegan's wild memoire and throw down some choice "Now Spinning" picks. Raise up!

Back from a short hiatus, the guys talk about how the slightest sniffle has created panic in their homes. Jason also walks back his curt dismissal of Revolver Magazine and languishes over all the concerts missed from sheer laziness. They also talk about the good guys in a news story about the altruistic business practices of one of the country's largest manufacturer of guitars and Thoryn drops this week's "Now Spinning." Break yourself, fool!

The boys peruse Revolver Magazine's list of most anticipated releases for 2021 and speculate on the quality of releases from bands like: Ghost, Tomahawk, Cult of Luna, Mastodon, Baroness, Crowbar, Megadeth, Metallica. We also bemoan important bands we missed as openers because of drinking, talk about our favorite New Orleans dens of days gone by and discuss the literally diminishing returns of gambling. Plus we got a new intro?! Check it, check it out.

Back in the New Year!!... but does flipping the calendar automatically fix everything that was so bad about 2020? Of course not but let's give it a shot because Hollywood is sinking in quicksand and Marco Rubio wants US intelligence to disclose what they know about aliens? What the fuck is going on? Your guess is as good as ours so let's just all pretend like we know.

The boys take a break from Christmas festivities to catch up on all the latest happenings from Andrew Schultz's Netflix deal to the Mandalorian season finale, Tom Cruise yelling at his employees and an illegal boner pill smuggling operations involving air marshals. We also talk upcoming record releases from Steve Earle and Willie Nelson to The Melvin and Eyehategod and finally... ask the burning question, "Who the fuck asked for another Weezer record in 2021?" Get buzzed!

Quarantine catch-up for the week: A senior in the Israeli space program makes claims that aliens are here but we're just not ready for them. The house votes to repeal the federal prohibition of cannabis, The Deftones landmark record, White Pony turns 20 and we talk about the remixes accompanying the reissue and finally we talk Dune and why Warner Bros. decided to release their entire 2021 slate to new streaming platform, HBO Max. Join the discussion on Youtube.

The boys talk Jones v. Tyson, Mark Lanegan's apparent unravelling, QOTSA, Rick Rubin, what it means to be a "producer" and question whether Dave Chappelle's call to boycott his most well known work will resonate with audiences. Y'all must've forgot!